I'm confused, why not just replace the battery? They're available and if you're not good with fiddly disassembly jobs you can probably find someone to do it relatively cheaply.

completely fair, although the BV has a layer of anti-slip rubber on the back panel (which I also came to appreciate), so replacing the battery will probably require ripping that layer off (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0 if curious)

that said, I've abused the phone enough that maybe I should find a replacement for the rubber too.

Agreed. I'd hold off a bit if I were you, unless your current battery is completely busted. Might even be worth seeing if you can replace the battery. The S62 is over 2 years old, and considering Cat hasn't updated it past Android 11, they may have something new on the horizon--unless they plan to exit the phone market entirely, of course, which I guess is also a possibility.

Every Cat phone I've looked at was on the high end of pricing at the time it came out and on the older end of operating systems. I've been in the market for a serious rugged phone basically the whole time I've had cell phones and Cat has never been justifiable to me.

I lucked out and grabbed a Galaxy Xcover pro when they first came out. It's not really advertised for the consumer market, but it was also way cheaper than things I liked less that had been out for a year longer. I'm not sure if they'll come out with a new model anytime soon. I will say this thing has a removable battery, solid construction, and is plenty fast for me (though I'm not picky on speed). I'm still on the original battery and it will play music for 10 hours through my Bluetooth headphones and still have 30% battery by the time I get home. I really have no complaints.

EDIT: the Xcover does not have an IR camera. I got off on a tangent because I keep getting disappointed every time I look into Cat phones.